In-fighting makes it difficult to mount long-term, wide-ranging conspiracies
"In recent days, when people have asked me if Jesse Jackson was done in by a devious rightwing plot (wasnÕt it suspicious that news of his love child hit the streets just when Jackson was prepping for an anti-inauguration demonstration?) or if the Democrats in the Senate cut a hush-hush arrangement with the Republicans (give us 50-50 representation on committees, and we wonÕt challenge FloridaÕs electoral college returns), IÕve replied, in both instances, probably not. And then IÕve been accused of being oh so naive."
—TomPaine.com. On one hand we believe politicians, corporations and "Washington" are all tangled together in outrageous conspiracies. On the other hand, we accuse them of incompetence and uncaring. Which is it? The level of competence, not to mention just giving a damn, required to pull off any decent-sized conspiracy is just simply non-existent.'
Separation of Church and State, yes, but what about politician and evangelism?
"Ashcroft's unwillingness to let biblical belief affect him for only an hour on Sunday bugs the Left. Ashcroft's opponents appear to equate Christian faith with hard liquor: Okay to use evenings and weekends, but it clouds judgment during the workday."
—Seattle Times. A survey found that self-identified evangelicals make up one-quarter of the US population and feel misunderstood, even persecuted, by the popular culture."There's this impression that evangelical Christians are out to make this into a monolithic nation that's conservative and Republican and will erode civil liberties."'
The South will rise again, perhaps ignited by the stars and bars
ÒThese guys are very much building the intellectual capital which they hope to make the foundation for a reborn Confederacy. You have 9000- and 15,000-person membership rolls, huge groups littered with PhDs, doctors, and lawyers, which are vastly more politically dangerous than any Klan or neo-Nazi group could ever be.Ó"
—Christian Science Monitor. Other uniting factors are state's rights and resistance to the Federal government, nostalgia for lost heritage, and yes, plain old bigotry. "The war occurred, and there's no point in pretending it didn't. Besides, removing all signs of the Civil War is a little akin to the Soviets airbrushing assassinated leaders out of photographs."'
Right now? Is there a left now? Is there a wrong now? Is there any other kind?
ÒThat's not a nut. There's no thread on it. It won't unscrew. It's a machined piece that fits into place and is held there by a collar. Put your cold chisel to the collar, and rap it with your hammer. The collar'll break, the fitting will fall off in your hand, and for four cents you can buy a new collar and put everything back together.Ó"
—Christian Science Monitor. John Gould is off his nutter, but he's grammatically correct about it in his anecdote as he explores "right now", "now" and "presently" as in, "Presently at this time right now it is raining in Skowhegan."'
Why don’t we just measure pain with a dollar value, like everything else?
ÒPeople are more stoic than you'd think. They're afraid to take pain medication because they don't want to get addicted. Or they believe that if they're sick, pain is to be expected, so they might as well just tough it out.Ó"
—Philadelphia Daily News. Four billion workdays a year are lost to pain, at a cost of 79 million dollars. Patients are now often asked to rate their pain and doctors are being asked to accept that rating at face value. "Many hospitals will now routinely chart pain the way they do a patient's vital signs. We're calling it 'the fifth vital sign.'"'
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